The Michael reaction is a known process wherein a Michael acceptor (such as an .alpha.,.beta.-ethylenically-unsaturated aldehyde, ester, nitrile, ketone, sulfone, or sulfoxide) is reacted with a Michael donor (such as a dialkyl malonate) to elongate a carbon chain.
As shown by U.S. Pat. No. 2,396,626 (Wiest et al.); Skarzewski, "The Michael Reaction of Methanetricarboxylic Esters. A Simple Method for Two-Carbon Chain Elongation," Synthesis, December 1990, pp. 1125-1127; and copending application Ser. No. 07/947,628 (Sabahi et al.), such reactions have been conducted so as to form a variety of products containing one, two, three, or even more acceptor moieties per donor moiety. However, regardless of the nature of the desired product, these reactions have always been conducted by a homogeneous basic catalysis achieved by dissolving a basic compound in a reactant or by solubilizing it with the aid of a solvent or a phase transfer catalyst.